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Monday, January 10, 2005

On Saturday, I wrote about an increase in the City Council's individual budgets, which they each spend at their own discretion. This information, which was obtained from a December article in the Metro Times, also pointed out that the Council's salaries come from their allotted budgets. Although the article did not specifically mention that the Council members would be getting pay raises from their increased budgets, that is what I assumed.

However, after watching Council's videotaped session from Friday, January 7, on Detroit's Channel 10, I was surprised to hear President Maryann Mahaffey state that the Council has not received a raise (including cost of living increases) since 2000. Mahaffey also stated that even when the rest of the city workers had received raises, the Council had not. Furthermore, Mahaffey requested the release of Council's payroll records - an appeal she made to correct some of the "misinformation" that has been in the media regarding her and her eight elected colleagues that serve the city.

I am anxious for the day that these records are gathered and do become public knowledge, because I am tired of having to speculate and would like to set the record straight on this issue. If, in fact, the Council has not had a raise for the past four years and everyone else in the city has, I will be the first to say that the council should not take a pay cut in light of the city's budget situation. Until then, I await the figures and maintain my stand that the council's budgets of $750,000 each and $1 million for Mahaffey should be reduced.

Once I do get word about the figures on these records, I will let you know. Please e-mail me at jaime.halaas@gmail.com if you have any comments or feedback on this post.